1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display and a method of fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, the important factors required of liquid crystal displays includes a lower profile, a smaller size, a lighter weight, and lower costs.
For this purpose, such technologies as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.Hei 6-347784 are used.
FIG. 1 is a disassembled perspective view of a liquid crystal display, illustrating an example of this technology.
This liquid crystal display has at least an upper frame 41, a liquid crystal display panel 42, a drive circuit board 43, a backlight 45, and a lower frame 46. These component members are stacked, and fixed by coupling the upper frame 41 and the lower frame 46 to each other. The upper frame 41 and the lower frame 46 are formed of a thin plate of iron, stainless steel, aluminum, or the like. An appropriate spacer 47 and the like are interposed, as needed, between the component members so that the whole is stacked in tight contact, and thereby fixed and held for integral handling.
In this technique, however, the upper frame 41 and the lower frame 46 are die-molded of a metal material such as aluminum, and therefore formed through a multi-staged press process, promising little reduction in cost. In addition, the coupling and fixing of the upper and lower frames 41 and 46 require the spacer 47 and the like between the component members, thereby contributing to higher costs. Moreover, the coupling and fixing are achieved by means of screws and/or caulking, which give rise to the disadvantage of requiring more labor.
Meanwhile, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.Hei 9-211447 discloses a technology in which a lower frame 51 is made of polycarbonate, and a metal foil 52 having an electromagnetic shielding function is attached on that polycarbonate surface by using an acrylic adhesive or the like.
The lower frame 51 is made of polycarbonate by vacuum forming. Therefore, this technology offers a prescribed function for the lower frame member in a liquid crystal module while achieving certain effects on the profile reduction, miniaturization, weight reduction, and cost reduction.
However, the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.Hei 9-211447 does not arrive at the solution to the problems in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.Hei 6-347784.
That is, the coupling and fixing of an upper frame 53 and the lower frame 51 requires many parts including a spacer. Besides, the upper frame 53 is die-molded of a metal material such stainless steel, thereby failing to achieve adequate reduction in cost.
Moreover, since the upper frame 53 and the lower frame 51 are different from each other in material, the method of fixing the upper and lower frames 53 and 51 has disadvantages of difficult coupling and fixing, and of great deviations. On this account, positioning and other accuracies needs to be high, which lead to a drawback of having a limit on cost reduction.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid crystal display of reduced profile, size, weight, and cost, and a method of fabricating the same.
A first liquid crystal display according to the present invention is a liquid crystal display having a liquid crystal display panel held between an upper frame and a lower frame, the upper frame having a display window. Here, the upper frame and the lower frame are coupled to each other via a U-shaped portion. Either of the frames has a first protrusion formed in the vicinity of its end, and the other frame has a second protrusion formed in the vicinity of its end, the second protrusion to be fitted to the inside of the first protrusion. The first protrusion and the second protrusion are formed to differ from each other in direction.
A second liquid crystal display according to the present invention is a liquid crystal display having a liquid crystal display panel held between an upper frame and a lower frame by using an intermediate frame, the upper frame having a display window. Here, either of the upper frame and the lower frame has a protrusion formed in the vicinity of its end. The intermediate frame has a depression formed in the vicinity of its end, the depression to be fitted to the protrusion. The intermediate frame is fixed to the frame so that the liquid crystal display panel is fixed to the upper frame or the lower frame.
A third liquid crystal display according to the present invention is a liquid crystal display having a liquid crystal display panel held between an upper frame and a lower frame by using an intermediate frame, the upper frame having a display window. Here, either the upper frame or the lower frame is provided with a stepped draw for fixing the liquid crystal display panel or the intermediate frame. This stepped draw is put into contact with the liquid crystal display panel or the intermediate frame so that the liquid crystal display panel or the intermediate frame is supported by the stepped draw.
A fourth liquid crystal display according to the present invention is a liquid crystal display having a liquid crystal display panel held between an upper frame and a lower frame, the upper frame having a display window. Either the upper frame or the lower frame has a conductive pattern formed thereon.
A first method of fabricating a liquid crystal display according to the present invention is a method of fabricating a liquid crystal display having a liquid crystal display panel held between an upper frame and a lower frame, the upper frame having a display window. Here, the upper frame and the lower frame are integrally molded to be coupled to each other via a U-shaped portion. The upper frame and the lower frame are vacuum formed of resin material.
A second method of fabricating a liquid crystal display according to the present invention is characterized by that either the upper frame or the lower frame has a conductive pattern formed thereon, and the conductive pattern is formed by screen printing.
According to the present invention, a liquid crystal display can be reduced in profile, size, weight, and cost.
The nature, principle, and utility of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.